Near Earth Object Observations in the Infrared and Visible Wavelengths

Statement of Task

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine will establish an ad-hoc committee to investigate and make recommendations about a space-based telescope's capabilities regarding the following:

Explore the relative advantages and disadvantages of IR and visible observations of near Earth objects (NEOs).

Review and describe the techniques that could be used to obtain NEO sizes from an infrared spectrum and delineate the associated errors in determining the size.

Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these techniques and recommend the most valid techniques that give reproducible results with quantifiable errors.

*Written materials submitted to a study committee by external sources are listed in the project's public access file and can be made available to the public upon request via the Academies Public Access Records Office.